Featuring Ansley Moon and Mahogany L. Browne
Saturdays: February 1 and 8, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
In-Person at Hawthornden Brooklyn in Ditmas Park
Produced by the Academy of American Poets with Hawthornden Brooklyn, this professional development intensive is designed to equip classroom English teachers with the skills and resources to empower their students as readers and writers. Teachers learn directly from celebrated contemporary poets and develop fresh lesson plans that foster a poetic sensibility in the classroom. Participants connect with a community of educators seeking valuable tools for opening doors to poetry in the classroom as they (re)discover their inner poet.
Each session will be led by anchor facilitator Ansley Moon; feature a visit by a celebrated guest poet; and include time for group discussion as well as independent work.
Mahogany L. Browne will be the featured poet on February 1; the guest poet for February 8 will be announced in the coming days.
During the sessions, teachers will have access to one of Hawthornden Brooklyn's private writing studios, two of which are located on the ground floor and designed to be wheelchair accessible.
Mahogany L. Browne is the author of several poetry collections and chapbooks, including Chrome Valley (W. W. Norton, 2023), winner of the 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize. Browne has received fellowships from the Arts for Justice Fund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Mellon Research, Rauschenberg, and Poets House, among other honors and awards.
Ansley Moon is the author of the poetry collection How to Bury the Dead (Black Coffee Press, 2011) and the recipient of awards and fellowships from Kundiman and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, among others. She currently teaches English at a public high school and serves as the Curriculum Consultant for the Academy of American Poets.
Note: This intensive is offered at no cost to teachers. Participants must commit to attending both sessions. Recommended for eighth-grade and high-school English teachers.
To apply, teachers must submit their application by December 27.
Applicants can expect to receive their acceptance status via email on January 8, 2025. Please email [email protected] with any questions.